The Pope said something last week, something to the effect that freedom of speech does not give us license to insult other religions. I don’t think that’s true.

I think that is what it is. Freedom of speech does give us a license to insult and make fun of other religions. Freedom of speech, I believe is one of those rights that we still have a hard time defining. The problem is that freedom of speech is more about individual liberty than communal liberty.

An individual does not want their voice drowned by a crowd. So we say that we need to have freedom of speech.

The Pope’s remarks were in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks. I do not condone the attacks that occurred in Paris, but I would like to correct some misconceptions. One of the things that came out was the solidarity that people over the world showed for Parisians and French people in general. This was something commendable.

I liked the hashtag that cropped up – #JesuisCharlie. I am Charlie. It is human to empathize with those of us who have lost loved ones and are in mourning. It is part of the human condition.

What is not part of the human condition is freedom of speech. Freedom of speech, especially for the masses, is a relatively modern invention. And even now, much of the modern world does not enjoy it. It is really a Western phenomenon. Even in the West it is a new thing, a product of the years that followed the French Enlightenment.

As soon as you say, there is freedom of speech everything is no longer sacred. And I mean everything. It is the reason that the editors of Charlie Hebdo were known for taking nothing seriously and insulting everything. Everything was fair game, even Charles de Gaulle, a giant in France, and really the father of the nation that emerged after the wounds of World War II. And we will not talk even about religion.

When I was still in high school in Kenya. The movie The Da Vinci Code came out. I did not have the opportunity to watch it then. But I knew about its major plot element: that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene. However there was nothing that I could do about it. Later I did get to read the book, I was surprised that such a book was available.

Raised as a Catholic, and attending a Protestant Church high school, I was surprised, shocked and flabbergasted that the idea that a human being such as a Dan Brown could exist. A human being who was so nonchalant about blasphemy. I think after that my mind was prepared for anything.

I understand the Pope’s sentiments but I do not agree with him. I think it is a wonderful thing that I am able to accuse the Pope of liberal bias. The Pope is the leader of the faithful numbering one billion people. These faithful people span different countries and cultures across the globe. His recent trip to the Philippines drew a crowd of an estimated six million. I remember when I was little and Pope John Paul II made his visit to Kenya. An estimated 300,000 people showed up to greet the Pontiff then. Such is the influence of the Pope as a global figure.

To repair the rift that is growing between the West and the world of Islam, I think a wrong approach has been used.

Liberals are so concerned about giving offense that we have been talking about our common goals. I think repairing the rift actually starts on the other end.

The West and the Islamic world need to acknowledge their differences first. The terrorists in Paris, I think truly did not understand what freedom of speech means in the West. Nothing is sacred any longer. Everything again is fair game.

That is why an artist like Madonna can still be a superstar even after such blasphemous performances as “Like a Virgin.” Similarly, the West needs to understand that certain cultural tenets are antithetical to the Islamic world. The Prophet is very sacred to Muslims.

In the West, there is the notion if I say something offensive so long I am not causing you bodily harm I should be fine with it. It is a notion that is quite strange in most cultures even African culture that I belong.

Take for example, the common insults I see in movies directed at people’s mothers. It is only a fool who would dream of doing something like that.

The Charlie Hebdo cartoons were insults that were directed at over one billion Muslims. But because freedom of speech mattered, there is nothing that was done. Once this differences are acknowledged. Then steps can begin to be made towards the road to reconciliation.